Church kneeler device



Aug. 27, 1968 J. J. NOE A 3,398,988

CHURCH KNEELER DEVICE BY GAA-qeu Aug. 27, 1968 J, J, NOE 3,398,988

CHURCH KNEELER DEVICE Filed Oct. 7, 1966 2 Sl'xeets-Shee'fl 2 A 7' MRA/E V5.

United States Patent O 3,398,988 CHURCH KNEELER DEVICE Joseph J. Noe, 1952 Mayflower Ave., Bronx, N.Y. 10461 Filed Oct. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 585,062 8 Claims. (Cl. 297-426) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a church kneeling bench mounting to provide a readily installable church kneeler. There is provided a pair of brackets affixed to the inner sides of the bench legs to form a sheath, a pair of vertical supports which fit within the sheathes and pivot means extending perpendicularly from the vertical supports inwardly between the supports and adapted to mate with and provide pivotal rotation to angle arm extensions affixed to the kneeler.

The present invention relates to an improved readily installable church kneeler and more particularly to a church kneeler capable of speedy and ready installation in church pews or seats and mounted so as to be readily swung up and away when not in use.

Various kneeling devices have been designed in the past to be employed in church pews. The most basic of the devices was a simple kneeling bench permanently positioned on the floor in front of a row of pews. While these benches were suitable for use, they blocked the aisle in front of the pew at all times, cramping leg room and made the clearing of the aisle of debris, etc., awkward.

Various devices and combinations were developed to provide a swing away kneeling bench affixed to the church Seat or pews in front of the kneelers row or pew and storable in swung away position beneath the seating portion of the pew bench. Many of these devices were integrally constructed with the pew bench itself while others provided means for separate aflixation to the pew bench.

Integral designs were generally impractical since they were generally expensive of manufacture due to the fact that the retraction mechanism had to be built into the seat itself, and were costly to replace due to the integral interdependence with the seat itself.

Separately affixed mounting brackets heretofore known in the art for pivotal retractable mounting of kneeling benches were also generally expensive of manufacture due to complicated spring or other actuation mechanisms employed. Additionally, installation was difiicult due to the relatively complicated interrelationship of parts which necessarily had to be positioned in order to properly mount the kneeler within the pew bench. Removal and replacement of worn or broken kneeling benches required in many instances the removal of the entire mounting and actuation mechanism and was both relatively costly and time consuming. In many instances auxiliary locking means so as to maintain the kneeler in swung away position were necessitated requiring an additional step in storage which was similarly time consuming and could delay or otherwise interfere with the church service.

The kneeler of the present invention provides a readily installable kneeling bench which may be easily swung upward to a non-use position beneath the church pew or seat upon which it is mounted, gravity maintained in swung-away position and easily removeable for replacement or otherwise.

More particularly, the kneeler of the present invention comprises a pair of brackets afiixed to the inner sides of the seat or bench legs to form a sheath, a pair of vertical supports which fit within the sheathes and pivot means extending perpendicularly from the vertical supports ex- "ice tending inwardly between the supports and adapted to mate with and provide pivotal rotation to angle arm eX- tensions afixed to the kneeling bench.

Although such novel feature or features believed to be characteristics of the invention are pointed out in the claims, the invention and the manner in which it may be carried out may be further understood by reference to the description following and the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the kneeling bench of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the kneeling bench of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side View of the kneeling bench of the present invention, the broken lines showing the bench in swung away position.

FIG. 4 is a detail of FIG. 3 along lines 4--4.

FIG. 5 is a detail of an alternative embodiment of the support bracket and vertical support of the present invention.

FIG. 5a is a detail of FIG. 5 along lines Saz-5a.

Referring now to the figures in greater detail, where like reference numbers denote like parts in the various figures.

The kneeling bench 1 as shown in FIGS. 1-3 includes a pair of end legs 2 and cushioned kneeling portion 3. lf it is desirable for longer benches, a central support leg or a plurality of support legs (not shown) can be employed.

Although standard single piece legs may be employed, as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 the end legs 2 preferably include a cushioned base 4 which not only supplements the overall cushioning effect, but additionally acts to reduce the noise during lowering of the kneeling bench 1 into operable position.

The interconnection between the end legs 2 and the kneeling portion 3 can be effected by means known in the art or by use of an integral three opening template 5 as shown in FIG. 3. Angle arms 6 are mounted to the underside of the kneeling portion 3 preferably in the vicinity of end legs 2 by conventional means such as by screws 7. As shown in FIG. 1, angle arms 6 are preferably substantially L-shaped with a T-shaped construction, that is having a flat horizontal top surface 8 and a somewhat centrally depending flanged portion 9.

The ends of angle arms 6 are provided with openings 10 which will act as pivot points as hereinafter described. As shown in FIG. 3, an additional opening 11 is provided on the end lof angle arm 6 to provide means for optional pivotal axes.

Brackets 12 are provided adapted to be affixed to the inner side of the legs 13 of the seat, the lower section of the `seat itself only illustrated in the drawings. Bracket 12 includes a substantially U-shaped portion 14 with side flanges 15 so as to provide a sheath-like configuration when vertically affixed to legs 13. Brackets 12 are affixed to legs 13 by conventional means such as screws 16.

A- vertical support member 17 is provided for each bracket 12, the support member 17 being so constructed so as to fit snugly within U-shaped portion 14 of bracket 12. As shown in FIG. 4, support member 17 has a pin 18 fixed through an opening 19 on support member 17 so as to be non-rotatable, the pin 18 facing inward between the seat legs 13. The afiixation of pin 18 within support 18. As shown in FIG. 4, opening can be anged so as to provide a closer fitting with bushing 23.

A stop 24 is provided along the vertical length of support member 17 and, as shown in FIG. 3, stop 24 may include a separately aixed bracket 25 including a transverse cushioned portion 26 which is so positioned as to intersect with a portion of angle arm 6 when in swung up position thereby preventing further upward rotation of kneeling bench 1.

As shown in FIG. 5 transverse portion 26 can be integral to support member 17. Where, as in FIG. 5, transverse portion 26 is integral to support member 17, or where otherwise desirable, support 17 can be constructed so as to have pin 18 offset. In such cases it is generally preferable to have pin 18 constructed as an integral portion of support member 17, as more clearly shown in FIG. 5a, and by providing a declivity 27 in bracket 12 so as to insure that support member 17 can be mounted within bracket 12 without pin 18 interfering with such mounting. The declivity 27 also provides stability against rotation or movement of the vertical support member 17 in the bracket 12.

Additionally, as shown in FIG. 5, an additional support screw 28 can be provided along support member 17 adapted to be tightened once support member 17 is within bracket 12, support screw 28 screwing into seat leg 13.

In operation, the kneeling bench is readily installed by the aixation of brackets 12 on legs 13. Angle arms 6 are then positioned onto support members 17 by positioning onto pins 18 through bushings 23. The two support members 17 are then positioned into brackets 12. Spring 22 exerting an expansion and force maintains angle arms 6 in tight spaced apart relationship providing lateral stability to the mounted kneeling bench 1. If support screw 28 is provided it is then tightened so as to provide additional stability.

When it is desired to swing kneeling bench 1 to its nonuse position, as shown in phantom in FIG. 3, an upward force is applied to the kneeling bench 1, the kneeling bench 1 pivots through opening 10 about pin 18 until angle arm 6 comes in contact with stop 24.

The swung away position is maintained without the need of separate locking means due to the angle arms 6 affixed to kneeling portion 3 in .offset position from the center of gravity of kneeling bench 1.

To swing kneeling bench 1 into operable position, a user merely pulls downward on the kneeling bench. 1, such as by using base 4 as a handle pivoting kneeling bench 1 to a horizontal position.

In the event of damage to the kneeling bench 1 or in the event it is desirable to remove the kneeling bench 1 from its mounting, the same can be readily accomplished by merely lifting the support member 17 from within the U-shaped portion 14 of brackets 12 thereby providing single-step disassembly. The kneeling bench 1 once repaired, or, a new kneeling bench 1 can then be 4 substituted by reinsertion within bracket 12 as heretofore described.

The terms and expressions which are employed are used as terms of description; it is recognized, though that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

Having thus described certain forms of the invention in some detail, what is claimed is:

1. A kneeling bench mounting comprising, a first bracket aflixed. to the inner side of the rear portion of a seat leg to form a sheath, a second bracket affixed to the inner side of the rear portion vof an opposite seat leg to form a sheath, first and second vertical support mem bers adapted to fit within said sheaths, each said support member including a pivot pin extending inwardly between said supports, a kneeling bench including a pair of extending arms, each said arm having an opening adapted to accept said pins to pivotally mate therewith, a spring interposed on at least one of said pins between one of said support members and one of said extending arms, and stop means along the vertical length of at least one of said support members adapted to stop upward rotation of said arms.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said kneeling bench arms are substantially L-shaped.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein each said kneeling bench arm further includes a plurality of optional pivot point openings.

4. The invention of claim 1 wherein each said rst and second bracket includes a declivity and each said pivot means is offset on each said support member, a portion of each said pivot means adapted to fit within said declivity.

5. The invention of claim 1 wherein said stop comprises a transverse ange 0n said support member positioned so as to intersect with a portion of said kneeling bench arm when said kneeling arm is in swung up position.

6. The invention of claim 5 wherein said stop is integral to said support member.

7. The invention of claim 1 wherein each said iirst and second support members further includes screw means adapted to aix said support member to a juxtaposed seat leg.

8. The invention of claim 1 wherein each said rst and second brackets are substantially U-shaped.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 327,939 10/ 1885 Garrison 248-224 2,892,488 6/ 1959 Frost 297--426 2,976,002 3/ 1961 Green 248-278 XR ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

I. F. FOSS, Assistant Examiner. 

